I just have one question to troll on in here. Does anyone in Santa Cruz work? I mean I have to work 24hrs straight in the hospital to be free to dick around at noon, but half of Santa Cruz is at Waddell by 11am the other half is at the hook. WTF?

I don't ride lefts very often at the coast, but there are some local riders (not me) who focus on them almost exclusively, especially on south swell days.

If you ask one of them on those days, they will tell you that they have right of way if they are coming at you from south to north and you are riding down the line towards them.

On south swell days the wave upwind of the parking lot ("surf zone") only yields 1-2 turns riding right anyway.

Riding left on those days can get you a really long, quasi-tube ride and that's what the goofy riders are often going after. They will not be happy to see you coming right at them, and they may definitely question the idea that you have ROW.

"Does anyone in Santa Cruz work? " that is a funny...I've wondered the same thing as I paddled out in the lane....

you could ask the same question in the following places:* Sherman Island* Crissy Field* 3rd Ave* Squaw Valley* Alpine Meadows....etc., etc..

There is a lot of creative time management when it comes to following your passion.....some are just lucky and have they did not work for....others have won the start up lottery....others choose to have lower overheads so they can be @ the location when conditions are firing.....